Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-01

! upon man IN order TO eNHt GOd'S con
descending love, forgetting that only be
cause man was originally made in tn,
image of God was 1t possible for God t
take on him the nature of man. The in
Carnation was reassertlon, in the mos
emphatic and startling manner, of tina
original statement respecting man-"il
| the image of God created he him." i
was Gods declaration to the universe ant
to man himself that there is, and in spite
of mans remuneration of his true nature
in spite of his apoStaSy and self degrade
ton, there still Is, and necessarily and in
alenahly is, a relationship between him
and God, Il kinship in nature and at
tributes, on the strength of which God
can become the Son of Man, and man can
become son of God. And more than
/ this-it was a declaration that even at this
/ inconceivable cost to God himself, man is
n being worth Gods while to save-that
/ for the Joy that was set before him of see
| ing this being restored to his rightful dig
| nifty and glory, Christ WAS justified even
| in enduring the cross. Now after this,
| after God has pronounced so emphatically
| his high estimate of man, have we any
| right III any spirit OF false humility to re
verse Gods judgment and to disparge and
belittle man Have we not the right to
say to all Gods intelligent creatures in
his universe, "Say what you will of our
sin in FORGETTING the glorious birthright
we had-you cannot speak too severely
and too condemnngly of that-but now
that God has restored it to us through the
wonderful mediation of Gods own Son,
who has become one of us that we might
become sons of God through Him, tell us,
if you can, of some greater token of his
regard for you or some other of his child
rem, or Join with us in praising him for
the unparalleled, the unapproachable hon
or he has conferred on his human child
rem"
pba Question noU bppomas nartinant
and is rising here and there in the world
of thought, and will become more aud
more prominent, whether this divine esti-
mate of man, as it comes back to us
through the temporary dissertations to
which it has been subjected does not re-
quire of us to reconsider and readjus
certain prevalent opinions respecting man
and human life and all mundane affairs.
What is the bearing of this truth, for eX-
ample, on the question of war and its
enormous destruction of human life
May not this truth require OF us II new
criterion of our civilization, that we esti-
mate il by the quality of men it produces.
not by the powers and luXures it places
at the disposal of inferior men
But there are three departments of
human effort in which it is especially i'm
portant that this truth receive its due ap-
plcation, the departments of science, of
education and of religion.
III Is very SlDlllICdUJ l0dU Wnen UDe
term Science" is used in our time, it is
almost universally understood to mean
physical science, the science of nature eX-
elusive of man, or inclusive of man on
in his physical nature, 1t is only
with reluctance and under protest that Il
large class of scientists will admit that
there is any other than physical science.
Perhaps this arrogance of physical science
is natural reaction from the scholastic
arrogance which once ignored it altogeth.
er. But it is certainly remarkable that
while the prevalence of the scientific
spirit is one of the most conspicuous marks
of our time, scientific research does not
seem to be specially directed upon man,
but rather upon the beast of the field, the
fowl of the air and the fish of the sea.
May notithis be owing to a deficient faith
in man, in the capability of man as sub
ject of research, to yield results that are
rs wonderful and gratifying as those yield
ed by physical nature viii 1t be said
that science has nothing to do with faith
that it is wholly disinterested and accepts
with equanimity whatsoever comes to it
Nothing can be further from the truth.
Scientific research is inspired and sustain
ed by enthusiasm for the expected results.
Let 1t become firmly fixed in the faith of
some coming geLeratiUn, some generation
less material and philistine than this,
that human nature has involved in it
forces and powers and possibilities in
tinitely more curious and wonderful than
those of mere physical nature, and out of
that enthusiasm for humanity what
science OF man will arise The coming
science Is the science of man. When we
have fairly got out of them whatever
truth there is in the materialiStic theories
now so urgent and absorbing, when we
recover interest in the scriptural idea of
man made III the image of God of man
In his inimaterial and essential being lit
l.,
be a science of man which will overtop and
dominate mere physical science as man
overtops and dominates the mere physical
creation.
Bringing the application of this truth
still nearer home, we find that it has an
important bearing on education. Most of
our teaching in higher institutions is done
by specialists. The wide extension and
rapid advance of knowledge in all
branches makes this almost a necessity
But one very serious consequence of this
is that teachers are apt to become more
interested in the studies they pursue than
in the men they teach. 1t Is said to be
comparatively easy to obtain for teachers
men of the highest gifts, who will spend
all their days and half their nights in the
pursuit of Il favorite science, who Will not
only burn the midnight oil but the very
oil of life, and IN manner commit suicide
in the search for abstract truth, but that
IL Is uOI easy, IL Is lHt udTutSl Oh all nara
tasks to find teachers who have genuine
interest in wha: is a thousand times more
than any distractions, the
human nature, the nature undeveloped,
hut capable of the most wonderful and
noble development, of boys and girls. in
all ages and nations the great teachers
have had one common characteristic, COM
mon TO Socrates and the teacher in the
primary school of to-day, a great admira-
ton for his pupils, great faith in the
capabilities Of the human nature that is
in them. The work of the true teacher is
more like that of the Creator than is any
other human work. God creates the germs
of intellectual and moral life. 1t is the
work of the teacher TO unfold those germs
in accordance with the divine idea His |
thought and work so JOIN on to and blend
with the work of the Creator as to make
ii essential to his success that he be in
thorough sympathy with God in his est- |
mate of men. The true teacher shares
Gods intense and loving and patient in
terest in man because he also shares Gods !
estimate of his high capabilities. If God
is so interested in his human pupils that
he sends to them all his servants, the !
rising up early and sending
them. then he trup mr. ph9t will find his